I hit 71 words per minute (not that far from my 80-wpm average) on the 10FastFingers test on my first try. The keys felt a little shallow, but they're not bad by any stretch. I've found the Chromebook 4's typing experience to be pretty OK. Samsung Chromebook 4 keyboard and touchpad Predictably, colors darkened considerably on the Chromebook 4 when we viewed the screen from 30 degrees to the left or right. The Lenovo Chromebook C330 (250 nits), Dell Chromebook 3189 (223 nits) and Samsung Chromebook 3 (259 nits) all got brighter.
Our light meter rated the Chromebook 4 for a low 210 nits of brightness, a mark that falls below the 216-nit Chromebook average. That's less than the 83% Chromebook average, as well as the ratings from the Lenovo Chromebook C330 (75%) and the Dell Chromebook 3189 (81%). When we scanned the Chromebook 4 with our colorimeter, it registered a low 64% of the sRGB gamut, practically tying with the score from the Samsung Chromebook 3 (63%). Watching a trailer for Jumanji: The Next Level, I saw the white cast of the panel mute all of the tones, from the red bandana around Kevin Hart's neck to the green fauna around the characters and the browns of the snake that ate Jack Black head-first. The first thing I did after opening the Samsung Chromebook 4 was try to increase the brightness setting, only to find out that I couldn't. Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. The IT management controls have been enhanced with new features like auto-update controls and new reporting capabilities.
Thus, business and education customers will pay the suggested retail price for each machine, plus a one-time fee of $150 (businesses) or $30 (schools) per machine for the management console, support and warranty. In their first iteration, these machines have been sold to schools and businesses using per user/per month pricing, but now they will be sold under the more conventional per-machine, one-time payment model, plus a one-time fee for the online IT management console, around-the-clock phone technical support and hardware warranty that are provided to these customers. So far, more than 500 schools have bought Chromebooks, while business customers include retailer Dillard's and Mollen Clinics. First-generation Chromebooks use Intel Atom chips.īeyond the consumer market, Google and its partners also pitch Chrome machines to businesses and educational institutions. They boot up in seven seconds and five seconds, respectively. It costs $329 and doesn't include a monitor, keyboard nor mouse.Ĭompared with the first generation Chromebooks, the Samsung laptop is two and a half times faster, while the desktop is three and a half times faster, according to Google.
It also features six USB 2.0 ports, a DVI single link output, a 2x DisplayPort++ Output compatible with HDMI, DVI, VGA and compatibility with Bluetooth 3.0 technology.
Meanwhile, the desktop, called Samsung Chromebox Series 3, has an Intel Celeron B840 dual-core processor running at a clock speed of 1.9GHz, 4G bytes of RAM, a built-in dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n antenna and a Gigabit Ethernet port. The machine, which will also have two USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 memory card slot and a DisplayPort++ Output compatible with HDMI, DVI and VGA, will cost $449 for the Wi-Fi only version and $549 for the 3G models. It has an Intel Celeron 867 dual-core processor running at a clock speed of 1.3GHz, 4G bytes of RAM and a built-in, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n antenna and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Samsung's Chromebook Series 5 550 laptop has a 12.1-inch display (1280x800), weighs 3.3 pounds and its battery lasts for six hours of continuous usage or six and a half days in standby mode.
Other new features include a new, more sophisticated media player, as well as a native photo editor and uploader, and enhanced video streaming options for YouTube, Netflix and other such sites.
When available, this Google Docs offline editing feature will be available to all Google Docs users, not just people who buy these new Samsung machines.
in June.Īt the software level, the new machines will feature what Google calls an "apps-centric user interface" that will feature, for example, a simplified app launcher, the ability to have multiple windows open for multitasking and support for screen sizes ranging from 11 inches to 30 inches.Ĭoming later will be a tight integration with the Google Drive cloud storage service, as well as the ability to edit Google Docs documents when the machine is offline. and May 30 in the U.K., and they will be for sale also at select Best Buy stores in the U.S. The new Samsung models will be available online today in the U.S. That next step includes broadening the roster of hardware partners, as well as making the machines more widely available.